Man feared dead, at least 80 properties lost in Tasmanian bushfires

Andrew Darby, Nick Ralston

AT LEAST 80 homes have been lost and one man is feared killed by a bushfire that swept down onto the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, less than 60 kilometres from Hobart, in catastrophic conditions.

The bushfire sent hundreds fleeing and was on Friday night still burning down the Tasman Peninsula, taking more properties as it went.

The Tasmania Fire Service acting district officer, Andrew McGuinness, said people should prepare for the worst. ''We've lost a lot of property down there.''

Smoke climbs from a fire burning just kilometres from homes at Bicheno, 150km north-east of Hobart. Photo: Hannah Woolley

The man, a local resident, was last seen by a fire crew attempting to save his house as they were forced to shelter in their vehicle when the fire burnt over them, the acting Police Commissioner, Scott Tilyard, said.

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Police crews were checking the smouldering town, which is believed to have lost about 65 properties, including many of its houses, as well as shops and the local primary school.

A few kilometres away at the beachside town of Boomer Bay, another 15 properties were gone, Mr Tilyard said.

Many people were forced to shelter on beaches and in shallow water near Boomer Bay, with some evacuated by small boat owners and the police.

Meanwhile, west of Hobart in the Derwent Valley, a separate fire was threatening more houses at Ellendale and Karanja.

Tasmania suffered its most severe fire day in years, with a record 41.8 degrees in Hobart, the highest temperature since 1881. Higher temperatures were observed ahead of the fire front in Dunalley.

A fire at Forcett, 30km from Hobart, sends smoke over Park Beach. At nearby Carlton River residents were being told to evacuate. Photo: Twitter/SiroccoSouth

Tasmania's chief fire officer, Mike Brown, said conditions reached the catastrophic level several times during the afternoon, and 100 crews were battling about 25 fires in the state.

The Dunalley fire began on Thursday in bushland about 20 kilometres to the north-west of the town, and swept out of containment lines on Friday afternoon fanned by strong winds.

It was burning to the sea at several points, and had taken properties at Connellys Marsh and Murdunna, local reports said.

The acting Premier, Bryan Green, said the government was preparing emergency accommodation, with a report that 600 people were sheltering at one refuge.

''This has been an

extraordinary day,'' Mr Green said.

On the mainland it was also a day of heat, haze and a rapidly escalating fire situation as crews fought blazes across four states. NSW Rural Fire Service crews were working on Friday to bring a five-hectare blaze under control at Jamies Corner, just south of Forster. The fire, the most serious of 20 in NSW on Friday, forced the closure of roads in the area, isolating the tiny town of Green Point.

Homes were not under immediate threat with crews on the ground supported by six water bombing aircraft as they battled to contain the fire.

In South Australia, farming properties were under threat in the state's Fleurieu Peninsula. Temperatures in large parts of the state topped 40 degrees, with the country's hottest spot on Friday the SA township of Wudinna with a high of 47.7 degrees.

In Victoria, a fire in a pine plantation in the state's south-west was a ''major concern'', fire authorities said, posing a risk to nearby camp grounds.

Crews were unlikely to find help in weather on Saturday, with the heatwave expected to continue well into next week.

The heat engulfed the state - Sale in eastern Victoria recorded its second-hottest day on record with the mercury hitting 44.3.

The state's hottest towns were in the north-west, with Walpeup and Hopetoun Airport reaching 44.8. Melbourne hit 40.9, while Avalon, near Geelong, reached 43.

Issues with the Country Fire Authority's website began mid-morning and people could not access the incidents and warnings page. The Fire Services Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said the website had a ''slight'' problem.

''The CFA website has struggled on a number of occasions to keep up with the workload,'' he said.

Mr Lapsley said at one point 700 people a second were trying to access the site. He said a blaze at Mount Richmond was of most concern to authorities.

Nearly 20 fire tankers, two planes and two helicopters battled the blaze in National Park, which began about 3pm. A late afternoon wind change moved the fire into an easterly direction.

Authorities also battled a large fire in Kalimna West, near Lakes Entrance in Victoria's south-east. The fire burned for about four hours and spread 10 hectares.

Closer to Melbourne, dozens of firefighters attacked a grass fire at Dandenong and another at Mill Park. Both were declared contained within hours.

Authorities have warned the hot weather is not over, especially in the state's north.

A senior forecaster from the weather bureau, Richard Carlyon, said the hot weather would continue, with a large pool of hot air across much of Australia unlikely to move for some time. ''We are really at the beginning of a run of very high temperatures,'' he said.

''We can't see an end in sight for the next week.''

A cool change was forecast to drop the mercury temporarily in Melbourne late on Friday, but it was tipped to reach 38 degrees again on Tuesday and Thursday.

The bureau said it was possible Australia could reach a new national average highest temperature at the weekend. The current national average high is 40.14 set in 1972.

''We think this record could easily fall on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday based on the current forecasts,'' a bureau forecaster, Julie Evans, said.

''That's the average for the entire country and taking in parts that are even cooler.''

Easterly winds meant that coastal areas of NSW were spared the extreme temperatures on Friday, Ms Evans said. Sydney could expect maximum temperatures in the high 20s at the weekend and in the high 30s in the city's west.

Surf lifesavers said it would again be a busy weekend at Sydney beaches with expectations they would make a similar number of rescues to New Year's Day, when about 300 people were pulled from the surf.